Taiwan won two golds and two silvers at this year’s Italy Percussion Competition, an annual event held since 2003 by the Italy Percussive Arts Society.
The gold medals were won by xylophonists Chen Yi-hua (陳奕樺), in Group A, and Lee Ting-ni (李庭妮), in Group B.
The silver medals went to xylophonists Shih Meng-hang (史孟航) in Group B and Huang Jin-wei (黃晉韋) in Group C.
Ju Percussion Group xylophonist Wu Pei-ching (吳珮菁), a jurist for this year’s competition, on Sunday said that competitors in the xylophone competition were divided into three groups: Group A for participants aged 18 or younger, Group B for those aged 19 to 25 and Group C for those aged 26 to 32.
Lee is a post-graduate music student at Taipei National University of the Arts and also a member of the Taipei-based Ju Percussion Group.
Lee was the xylophone champion at the Taiwan International Percussion Competition in 2017.
Shih is a classmate of Lee’s, and they both train under Wu, who also teaches in the university’s music department.
Huang, also a member of the Ju Percussion Group, is working toward a doctorate in music at Taipei National University of the Arts.
Huang came in third place in the Italy Percussion Competition’s Percussive Arts Web contest in 2016, and he was nominated for a 2016 Music Star award, an honor that the New Taipei City Cultural Affairs Department awards to new and upcoming musical talent.
This year’s Italy Percussion Competition was held from Sept. 24 to Sept. 29 in Montesilvano, Italy.
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